


Alone

by owydfa



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: F/M, Kylo Ren - Freeform, M/M, Star Wars: The Force Awakens - Freeform, Star Wars: The Force Awakens Spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-03
Updated: 2016-02-07
Packaged: 2018-05-11 08:32:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5620315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/owydfa/pseuds/owydfa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Leo had always been running. She forgot, for a time, what she was running from, but it's impossible to forget in her world. Kylo Ren was everywhere, and she couldn't escape him. Leo could try as hard as she wanted, but she always ended up back to him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I SPENT FOUR HOURS ON THIS ITS OS FUCKIGN SHOR TIM GONAA KIL L

"Ah, my dear Leokadia, so we meet again," he grinned, as she woke up strapped into a chair.

"Take off the mask, Kylo."

"I go by Ren," he responded, as he took it off.

"And I go by Leo."

"So, what information do you have for us today?"

"The same as always," Leo responded, a scowl on her face, "the First Order is a huge pile of garbage, and the Rebellion's going to find Luke. Ooh, there was something else...what was it? Fuck you, that's what! I almost forgot." She grinned before grimacing. Her prosthetic leg had ended up in an awkward position when she fell on rocks before the Order caught her.

"I'm needed elsewhere," he suddenly said. "I'll return."

Leo shoved her head back into the slightly cushioned head of her restraints, trying desperately to escape from the chair. But, eventually, Kylo learned not to leave stormtroopers inside of the room, but he did leave some right outside the soundproof doors. Leo sighed.

It was going to be a long night.

Eventually, Leo fell asleep, despite how vastly uncomfortable she was, strapped into a chair with her arms and legs strapped wide apart. She couldn’t move her hands or feet at all, and it was worse, considering the fact that she had cramped knuckles. There was no way to know what time it was when she awoke, but she assumed it was morning when she woke up. Ren was sitting in the corner, once she managed to crane her neck up, to see if everything was the same as when she fell asleep, but the only different thing was Kylo sitting in the corner.

“What now, skug?” she sighed, pushing her head into the slight cushion on the chair. “The same as always? It was only a day that I was missing, Ben, nothing is changed. And take off the mask, now.”

A deep voice suddenly in her ear, Leo’s heart started racing. “Ben is dead, Leokadia.” Kylo’s voice was cold and unforgiving. “You of all people should know that.” The mask is off and on the ground.

“Stop calling me Leokadia, Kylo. Or should I go back to calling you Ben? I’m not even sure why I stopped calling you that.”

He averted his eyes from hers. “I asked you nicely to stop mentioning it.” His voice was low, soft yet steely.

“It’s my fucking leg, Kylo, I can’t just stop bringing that up!”

“You only use it for running away, Leokadia, so why should I feel bad? I could make you a vegetable, completely dependent on me, you know.”

“Then why don’t you?” Leo almost shouted. “Oh, because all you care about is information! You’ve avoided your dad for years, and you aspire to live up to a guy who ruined so many people’s lives! What the hell is wrong with you?”

Ren was quiet for a few minutes as Leo slowly relaxed into her restraints. Then, without a warning, the cuffs around her wrists and ankles clicked open. She snapped up, rubbing her wrists and twisting her ankles. “What are you doing?” she asked softly.

“Just go,” he muttered. As she slowly got up, Ren said louder, “Go. Before I change my mind.”

Leo pushed her fingers through the thin wire of the back of her prosthetic, grabbing her compressed lightsaber hilt. She expanded it to its full size, then pushed the button, making her Barab lightsaber light up clearly.

“Knowing you, I’ll see you within a week.” Leo mumbles, not knowing if it’s loud enough for Kylo to hear before sneaking out of the door. “Goodbye.”


	2. Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> in which ya favorite cj changes the fucking plot of tfa i love yall

Once Leo managed to get out of that hallway, she couldn’t focus. She was slightly terrified. For some reason, Kylo had been trying to capture her for years. He always wanted new information, and she never had it. Then he’d get mad, and then she’d suffer for it. Then, he’d leave suddenly, and then Leo would escape. She’d make it off the ship, and then, within two days, the First Order would capture her yet again.

Leo quickly navigated the hallways. She quietly released a heavy breath through her nose, thankful that she had been kidnapped so often that she had the ship’s hallways memorized. She knew exactly when the Stormtroopers changed shifts, and where they would go. She knew exactly how to sneak by without getting caught.

Getting to the ships was the hardest, usually. But that time, she saw a stormtrooper helping another prisoner to a ship. She slipped through the Troopers, and managed to catch the pair right as they boarded. She turned her lightsaber off, and folds it back up into her leg before she says anything to them.

“Take me with you.” was all that she had time to say before she scared the crap out of them, but silently. They knew they couldn’t be too loud before another Stormtrooper noticed them.

“Who are you?”

“Leokadia Orion. I’m assuming you’re with the Resistance.”

“Is your name supposed to mean anything?”

“I suppose you really are with the the Resistance. Kylo claims that the entirety of this ship’s work would know my name. Anyway, I go by Leo. And you are?”

“FN-2187,” the Stormtrooper automatically said.

“Poe.”

“So are you guys escaping? I think Troopers are going to see us soon.”

“I...I think we are, yeah.”

“Can I go with you?”

“We’re taking a TIE ship,” Poe sighed, “There’s only two seats.”

“I’ll sit on the floor. I need out,” Leo begged.

“Okay, I suppose I can use your help. You can stay near FN….ah, screw it. You need a new name. FN...how about Finn?”  
FN presses his eyebrows closer. “But...my name is FN-2187. It’s...it’s who I am.”

“They’re trying to make you an object, Finn.” Leo decided to call FN Finn, and she was stubborn as a mule.

That’s what Kylo hated about her, and even though he refused to admit it, he also loved it about her. He admired it, anyway. He would never admit it, though, as he tried to live up to his stony exterior. Emotions weren’t something that Vader ever had, so why should he?

Anyway, after another second of quietly arguing about whether or not to take Leo with them, Poe decided that it wasn’t worth it to argue there. They’d already wasted too much time.

And, speak of the Devil, a Stormtrooper’s fuzzy voice came through his mask. “Didn’t FN-2187 go through there a little bit ago with a prisoner? Where is he?” Finn’s face froze, as he didn’t think that anyone had seen the pair. Leo couldn’t help but grin a small amount, as she knew nobody saw her go through. She had gotten caught too many times to get caught again.

“Let’s go!” Finn hissed. Poe sprinted to the door of the TIE ship, and pulls it open, as a slight creaking noise emits. Finn goes down to the gunroom, and Poe goes up to the control room. Leo, unsure of where to go, decides to help in either way, and just stays next to the door, lightsaber in her hand. It’s just the hilt, but she has her hand hovering right above the button to expand it to its full size.

The pair attempt to take off, but a giant, rusty chain holds the trio to the ground. “Poe!” Leo shouts over the loud humming of the ship warming up. “If you can get us close, I can cut us off!”

“The chain?” Poe yells back.

“Yeah!”

“I was just going to go back until it rips off!”

“It’ll save time!” Poe quickly agrees, seeing the Troopers getting their guns ready and surrounding the ship.

Poe brings the ship towards the chain, and Leo flings the door open, pressing down hard on the button. It lights up clearly, the blue core faintly shining through. Leo manages to crawl out through the door with her lightsaber in one hand. She swipes at the chain harshly, and after a second, it breaks, and the TIE ship takes off. Leo barely has time to get into the ship and close the door before they’re out the larger door, with the infinite darkness of space waiting for them.


	3. Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so pretty much i use literal quotes straight from star wars: tfa and i don't claim any of the work okay again my only character is Leo and my version of how Kylo acts. also poe x finn is real af and coming up soon

As soon as the three had gone into space, unknowing what they were getting into, a small group of Stormtroopers flew after them. Finn was below Poe and Leo, grumbling and yelling about how shooting the lasers was impossible. The trio sped through deep space, fighting off Stormtroopers in similar ships. Eventually, Finn got the hang of it. He shot almost all of the other ships, leaving only one. And then, of course, the stupid thing had to jam, leaving him in a really bad space. He could only shoot straight forward. Poe, however, being the genius that he was, figured out exactly how to get it so that they could shoot the last one before they were shot.

Once the trio had gotten through the Order, Poe let out a sigh of relief. Everything was calm, or at least however calm it could be, given their current predicament. However, Finn figured he should ask something important before it was too late. “Where are we going?”

“We’re going back to Jakku,” he replied quickly. “That’s where.”

“Oh no,” Finn sighed. “we can’t go back to Jakku. We need to get out of the system.” Leo twisted her face a little bit, scrunching up her lips. She wasn’t sure who to side with it.

“Why do we need to go back to Jakku?” Leo asked quietly. In all of the commotion, Poe had kind of forgotten that there was anyone other than himself and Finn.

“I gotta get my droid before the First Order does.”

“Your droid?” Finn yelped. He couldn’t believe that Poe was willing to risk all three of their lives for a droid. He knew how to get money, and he knew where to buy droids. They came and went, but they were dependable. He understood why he would want to get his old droid back, but he figured that a human life was worth more than a small robot.

“That's right. It's a BB unit, orange and white. One of a kind.” Poe proudly replied. From her spot on the ground, Leo could see his smug smile, and she could tell how much he loved it. Never having a droid herself, she didn’t really understand.

“I don’t care what color he is! No droid can be that important.” Finn groaned, exasperated.

“This one is, pal!”

“We have to move as far away from the First Order as we can. If we go back to Jakku, we die.” Finn stated. It was true, and he, Leo, and Poe all knew it. However, Poe still had a retaliation.

“The droid has a map that leads straight to Luke Skywalker.”

“You gotta be kidding me!” Before Poe had a chance to argue again, the ship crashes. Poe disappears, and Finn wanders off, assuming that Leo is with him; gone. Before he leaves, however, he grabs Poe’s jacket, which he finds just a little bit away from the wreckage.

However, a few minutes later, as he’s wandering through the desert, Finn finds Leo, passed out cold. Technically passed out hot, considering the desert heat, but he’s too hot to care. He pulls off his helmet, panting hard. He picks her up a tosses her over his shoulder, her knees and feet thumping against his armor.

After a few more miles, he ended up taking off the rest of his armor, leaving Leo lying on Poe’s jacket, which was lying on the ground. He left the armor right where it was, and eventually Leo’s constant thumping on his lightly covered legs brings a slight wind to him. It feels nice, but his leg ends up slightly bruised and numb, but it’s okay to him. It reminded him he was alive, and okay, and his own person now. He finally felt like he was Finn, not FN-2187.

Eventually, after what felt like multiple eternities, Finn finds a settlement on this barren hellhole. He was barely able to think, and all he had the physical ability to say is the only thing on his mind: water.

“There’s no water,” one person said.

“What? Get away!” another called to him.

He ends up drinking the fountain water, probably disgusting and dirty, but he didn’t care. He was finally hydrated, after what felt like forever. He puts some of the cool water onto Leo’s forehead, hoping that she’d wake up soon/

And that’s where he saw her. It’s not her that matters, so much as her company. It was the BB unit, orange and white. But he was a little freaked out. He wasn’t in his uniform, so he didn’t think she would know he’s a member of the Order, but he never knew. After staring back at each other for just a moment, the girl races towards him, the BB unit hot on her heels.


	4. Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> kylo ren fuckin' up peoples lives even when he aint there

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> again, I don't own the rights to any of the characters, other than Leo. <3

Finn, still seriously dehydrated with Rey and Poe’s BB unit hot on his heels as Leo’s legs thumped against his still-bruising thigh. Rey’s face was that of pure determination. Once Finn thought he lost them, the pair appeared in front of him.

“What's your hurry, thief?” Rey asked, panting slightly.

“What?” Finn’s eyebrows scrunched together. “Thief?”

“The jacket. This droid says you stole it.”

“I've had a pretty messed up day, all right? So I'd appreciate if you would stop accusing me of…” Finn doesn’t have a chance to reply before Rey interrupts.

“It belongs to his master. It belongs to Poe Dameron.” She turns to the BB unit. “That was his name, right?”

“He was captured by the First Order. I helped him escape, but our ship crashed. Poe didn't make it. I tried to help. I'm sorry.”

Rey quickly changes the subject. “So you’re with the Resistance?”

“Obviously,” Poe lies. “Yes I am. I'm with the resistance. Yeah, I am with the resistance.”

“I've never met a Resistance fighter before,” Rey replies in awe.

“Well, this is what we look like,” Finn says, slightly stressed. A lot of shit’s happened in just a day. “Some of us. Others look different.”

“BB-8 says he is on a secret mission,” Rey whispered, thrilled. “He’s to get back to your base.

“Apparently he has a map that leads to Luke Skywalker, and everyone's after it.”

“Luke Skywalker?” Rey muttered, voice full of wonder. “I thought he was a myth.”

 

And then, all at once, everything exploded into motion. Finn grabbed Rey’s hand, and yelped at her to run. “What are you doing?” she hissed, right before she told the BB unit to follow her. “Come on, BB-8!”

She tugged her hand free from his grasp. “Let go of me!” she snapped.

“No, we gotta move!” insisted Finn.

Rey’s face was slightly pissed off as she fumed, “I know how to run without you holding my hand!” and then, “BB-8, stay close!’  
She took over the leader of the conscious duo, since Leo was still thumping against his leg. Finn thanked his lucky stars he was still able to keep her up there, considering how high up on his thigh she was. “This way.” As the duo had headed towards two ships, she speaks again. “They were shooting at both of us.”

“Yeah, they saw you with me. You’re marked.”

“Well,” Rey sighed. “Thanks for that.”

“Hey!” Finn narrowed his eyes slightly. “I'm not the one who chased you down with a stick.”

Rey muttered something to herself that Finn couldn’t quite catch. He quickly grabbed her hand, kind of in love with his first human contact in as long as he can remember. “Are you okay?”

Rey wrenched her hand out of his grasp for the second time in what can’t be more than minutes. “Stop taking my hand!”

“Are you okay?” Finn asked, voice filling with a small amount of worry. He couldn’t really be too worried about her being okay at that exact moment, however, he was mainly afraid of the Order finding him again.

“Yeah,” she shouted. “Follow me.”

“We can’t outrun them!”

“We might! In that quad jumper!”

“We need a pilot!” Finn hollered.

“We’ve got one!”

“You? What about that ship?” Finn pointed to a bigger ship, but one obviously not as new.

“That ship’s garbage!”

And then, because Fate hates the duo, something that the Order was shooting on the nearly-barren planet hit the ship that wasn’t garbage.

“The garbage will do,” Rey sighed, exasperated, before running off towards the garbage ship.

//(So I can’t keep track of all the dialogue that was said in the next scene, where they shake off the Order, and because of that, I’m just gonna skip it. Sorry, y’all.)//

Once they had shaken the Order, for Finn, the second time in a day, BB-8 was shaking. “You’re okay,” Rey kind of...purred to it. “He’s going to get you home. We both will.” She then turns to him. “I don’t know your name.”

“Finn,” he says, fondly remembering Poe giving him his new title. “What’s yours?”

“I’m Rey.”

“Rey…” is all that Finn was able to get out before Leo woke up, arms yanking up towards the ceiling of the ship automatically, as if she was testing binds she didn’t have. It was a sad sight for Finn, seeing how she was so used to waking up bound by the First Order that it was a habit to try to get out of them.

“Is he dead?” Finn couldn’t place where the fear in her voice belonged, for her own life, or for Kylo’s.


	5. Chapter ... What Even Is This, Five? Yeah, Five. I'm Losing It, Y'all.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> alternative title: I Pretty Much Just Type the Entire Script of Star Wars: The Force Awakens Again and Add a Single Character and Kylo Isn't in It and I Don't Even Know What I'm Doing with My Life Oh My God Somebody Help

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> no copyright infringement intended annnnnnnd i barely had leo in here bc i am Dead InSide

Rey’s head popped out of the open deck, sweat glistening on her face. “It’s the motivator. Grab me a Harris wrench. Check in there.” She pointed behind Finn just as he looked at her. No more than a moment ago, he had been explaining to Leo what she had missed while she was unconscious as she sipped water from a bottle the trio had found while they explored a few rooms of the ship. It was slightly stale, but she was still dehydrated. Even at the fountain, she hadn’t been able to drink any water.

He got up and rifled through the box, trying to find the Harris wrench, as he called to Rey behind him. “How bad is it?”

“If we want to live,” Rey responded, only mildly worried, “not good.”

Leo took a long drink of water, avoiding speaking. She was afraid that if she tried to talk, her voice would crack, at least while her throat was as dry as the planet they’d just escaped from.

The ship suddenly jolted, and Finn had to practically force the words out of himself. “Look, they’re out there looking for us now. The longer we stay sublightspeed, the more certain the chance that their sweep scans will pick us up. I don’t want to have to try and outrun a Destroyer!”

Ignoring him, Rey quickly glanced at BB-8. “He says that the location of the Resistance is on a need-to-know basis. Well, if I’m going to take you two, I need to know.” She disappeared below the surface of the ancient ship after Finn gave her the Harris wrench, leaving Finn and the droid to talk as Leo continued to quickly drain the water bottle..

Finn knew he could probably stall Rey for longer if needed, but he felt it was unfair to the BB unit. “You gotta tell us where your base is,” Finn muttered to the bot, desperately trying to keep his voice low so he could continue his charade for Rey a little bit longer.

BB-8 replied with a series of beeps, as per usual. “I don’t speak that,” Finn mumbled, frowning.

“Okay, between us, I'm not with the resistance, okay? I'm just trying to get away from the First Order. But you tell us where your base is, I'll get you there first. Deal?”

After another series of beeps, both short and long, Finn began to get desperate. “Droid, please.”

Rey’s hand appears from the hole in the middle of the ship again, this time asking for a pilex driver, and to hurry.

Finn grabs one, and hands it to her quickly. Once Rey’s used it, she pulls herself out of the small space. “So, where’s your base?”

Panicking, and hoping for at least a little bit of time to forge a lie, Finn quickly says, “Come on, BB-8, tell her.” And then, for good measure, he throws in a, “please.”

BB-8 was quiet for a moment before beeping a few times.

“The Ileenium system?” Rey said, surprised.

Finn breathed a sigh of relief. “Yeah, the Ileenium system! That’s the one.” Although he didn’t know where the Ileenium system even was. He glanced at BB-8 again, hoping that the droid was giving them the right location. “Let’s get this crate fixed and head there as fast as we can, okay?”

“I’m doing what I can.” Rey disappeared again, the clanking of metal on metal the only indication that she was still present.

As soon as she was out of sight, Finn gave BB-8 a grateful thumbs-up. BB-8 gave a thumbs-up of his own, using his welding torch to imitate Finn, making Leo laugh a little bit, hoarsely.

Rey suddenly shot up again. “Bonding tape, quickly!” She gestured impatiently and Finn started to look through the tools for the bonding tape. “If I get the ship working again, I’ll drop you off at Ponemah Terminal, but that’s as far as I’ll go. Ponemah’s neutral territory. You can make contact with the Resistance from there.” 

“What about you? What are going to do? If the Order doesn’t bring you in for questioning, bounty hunters will be searching every port hoping to pick you up. It’s better for you if you stick with us.” Finn looked over at BB-8 and thought that maybe it looked like the droid agreed with him. “The Resistance will protect you.”

Rey shook her head. “I gotta get back to Jakku!”

Finn found what he thought looked like the bonding tape and turned to toss it to her. “Back to Jakku? Why does everyone want to go back to Jakku? There’s nothing there!”

“No, that one!” Rey pointed at something to Finn’s right and he tried to follow her directions. “No. No! No, the I’m pointing to. No! If we don’t patch this up, the propulsion tank will overflow and flood the ship with poisonous gas.” 

BB-8 rolled over, indicating the bonding tape and Finn tossed it to Rey, who caught it and went down again to continue the repairs.

“You’re a pilot,” Finn continued. “You can go anywhere? Why go back to Jakku? You got a family there? Or a boyfriend? Got a cute boyfriend?”

The alarm, which had started to give Finn a headache, finally shut off leaving them in quiet. Rey reappeared, looking vaguely irritated.

“It’s none of your business, that’s why.” Leo laughed quietly.

Suddenly, the lights dimmed and flickered. Finn and Rey both fell silent as they looked around. BB-8 wobbled between the two of them.

“That can’t be good,” Finn said.

“No, it can’t,” Rey agreed.

She climbed out of the opening in the deck and they went together to the cockpit, Rey taking the pilot’s seat and Finn settling into the copilot’s seat. The console was dead.

“Someone’s locked onto us,” Rey said, as she studied the console and tried a few controls. She sat back. “All controls are overridden.”

Finn wondered who’d taken control of their ship, but he had a pretty good idea, with the First Order still on their tail. Quietly, he got up and headed for the overhead observation dome. It was an enormous, bulky freighter that had caught up to them, its cargo bay door open as it drew them in. Compared to that ship, theirs looked no larger than an escape capsule. Finn returned to the cockpit, slumping into the copilot’s seat.

BB-8 beeped an inquiry that Finn couldn’t interpret.

“What do we do?” Rey asked. She was still trying the dead controls, hoping that something might work. “There has to be something.”

“We don’t have power and we don’t have weapons,” Finn said. His eyes widened as a thought occurred to him. “Wait. Earlier, when you were working below--you said something about poisonous gases?”

Rey frowned. “Yes, but I fixed that.”

“Can you unfix it?”

It took Rey a moment to piece together Finn’s plan, but once it hit her, she was up out of her seat in a flash, and Finn followed her out of the cockpit and back to the lounge, BB-8 bringing up the rear. They picked up emergency masks to filter the air and, together, managed to lower BB-8 below deck. Once Rey and Finn were down too, Finn pulled the decking back into place overhead and he and Rey put on their masks as Rey started to undo the results of her repair.

“This’ll work on stormtroopers?” she asked uncertainly.

“The masks are designed to filter smoke, not toxins,” Finn said.

Nobody said anything on that, so Leo thought it necessary to mutter, “Was I actually the only one who didn’t know that? This is important information, honestly.” BB-8 beeped something that sounded oddly like a shush. 

The uneasy quiet that had settled on-board was broken as the ship returned to full power and the ship’s ramp was lowered.

“Hurry!” Finn whispered.

“I am!” Rey shot back.

Finn could hear a muffled voice speaking, then the decking concealing them was lifted away. Instead of finding themselves at the wrong end of a stormtrooper’s blaster, though, there was a single man. He had a blaster, but no helmet or armor and he looked angry.

“Where are the others?” the man demanded. “Where’s your pilot?”

Beside him, Finn felt Rey tense. “I’m the pilot.”

“You?”

“Yes,” Rey said. “It’s just us and a droid.”

Another, larger figure appeared by the man, much taller and much hairier. When it opened its mouth, it was to make a strange noise that Finn couldn’t make sense of but that, apparently, Rey could.

“No, it’s true,” Rey said. “We’re the only ones on board.”

“You can understand that thing?” Finn said, shocked.

“And ‘that thing’ can understand you, so watch it,” the man said. He hadn’t lowered his blaster, but he hadn’t shot yet either. Maybe he wouldn’t, Finn thought. “Get out of there. Come on up, but no funny stuff. We’re watching you.”

Finn kept a wary eye on the large, hairy thing as he emerged from below deck, even as he struggled to help Rey get BB-8 up.

The man gestured with the muzzle of his blaster. “Where’d you find this ship?”

“Down on the surface,” Rey said. “Niima Outpost.”

The man’s jaw dropped. “Jakku? That junkyard?”

“Thank you!” Finn said. Finally someone agreed with him. “Junkyard!” He shot Rey an I-told-you-so-look.

The man looked away from them for the first time since uncovering them, and said to his partner, “I told you we should’ve double-checked the Western Reaches!” He turned back to Rey. “Who had it? Ducain?”

“I stole it from a salvage dealer named Unkar Plutt.”

The man’s eyes narrowed. “Who?”

“Plutt stole this ship from the Irving Boys,” Rey explained, “who stole it from Ducain.”

“Who stole it from me!” The man sounded indignant now, which Finn didn’t consider a good sign. He took a step closer to Rey and Finn tensed, but the man didn’t raise his blaster. “Well, you tell him when you see him again, you tell him that Han Solo just stole back the Millennium Falcon for good!” And holstering his blaster, he whirled around and headed for the cockpit, his partner at his side.

Finn and Rey waited a moment, looked at each other, then both followed Han.

“Han Solo,” Finn heard Rey saying to herself. “And--Chewbacca!”

“Han Solo? Finn asked. “The Rebellion general?”

“No,” Rey corrected, admiration clear in her tone. “The smuggler!” Leo had heard rumors and legends about the very man that was standing in front of her, and had looked up to him her whole life. And Han Solo wasn’t awful, either.

That meant nothing to Finn, but he said nothing, trying to keep up with Rey and Han and that thing--Chewbacca. BB-8 bumped into his leg.

“The Millennium Falcon,” Rey said, as she looked around the ship again, as though it were suddenly something new and exciting rather than the old piece of junk she’d been repairing earlier. “This is the ship that made the Kessel Run in fourteen parsecs!”

“Twelve parsecs,” Han corrected. He entered the cockpit, examining the console for the first time in years only to frown as he noticed one of the readouts. “Hey! Who installed the compressor on the ignition line?”

“Unkar Plutt,” Rey said. “I thought it was a mistake too. Puts too much stress--”

“--on the hyperdrive flow,” Han finished. He seemed impressed when he looked at Rey this time, and almost smiled at her, before turning to Chewbacca. “Chewie, put ‘em in a pod and send them back to Jakku, or wherever else they want to go.”

“Wait, no!” Rey said, moving towards him. She stopped short at the stern stare he gave her. “We need your help!”

“My help?”

Rey stood straighter, standing her ground, and gestured at BB-8. “This droid has to get to the Resistance base as soon as possible. He’s carrying a map to Luke Skywalker!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> word count: 1982


End file.
